Dundee end poor run
Dundee ended their long wait for a Scottish Premiership win with a convincing 4-1 win over 10-man Motherwell at Dens Park.
The Tayside club were helped by early goals from Alex Harris and Greg Stewart before John Sutton pulled one back for the visitors, only for Gary Irvine to restore the home team's two-goal advantage.
Ian Baraclough's Motherwell had Henrik Ojamaa sent-off for an elbow on Kevin Thomson just before half-time and they lost a further goal in 71 minutes when Marc O'Brien turned the ball into his own net.
Dundee went ahead in three minutes when on-loan Hibernian man Harris saw his shot deflection by Stephen McManus past visiting goalkeeper Dan Twardzik.
Inside eight minutes it was 2-0 to the hosts. David Clarkson flicked the ball on to Stewart, who headed in his own rebound after shooting against the bar.
Dundee were attacking at every opportunity but Motherwell hit back with a 19th-minute goal which made it 2-1.
A run down the right by Josh Law ended with a cross to the near post which Sutton calmly knocked past the diving Scott Bain in the Dundee goal.
As half-time approached, Motherwell were forced to clear their lines when Thomson's inswinging corner was headed down by Kostadin Gadzhalov into the danger area, before being swept to safety.
In 33 minutes, the visitors had Twardzik to thank for a stunning double save, firstly from David Clarkson and then Harris.
But the former Dundee keeper gifted Irvine the hosts' third goal in 34 minutes. Stewart's corner looked easy enough for Twardzik but he dropped it and Irvine could not believe his luck, being in the right place to lash the ball high into the net from point-blank range.
Things got even worse for the Lanarkshire club in 44 minutes when Ojamaa, normally such a threat with his blistering pace, was shown a straight red card by referee Stephen Finnie for lashing out at Thomson.
Things stayed much the same after the break with the home team making clever use of the extra man, and Clarkson almost extended their lead in the 51st minute, only to see his dipping shot from outside the penalty area go inches wide of the target.
Shortly after, Paul McGowan laid the ball into the path of Stewart, whose curling shot was not far wide of Twardzik's right-hand post.
Stewart then released Harris down the left in another swift attack but substitute Luka Tankulic could not connect with his cross.
Dundee rounded things off with a fortuitous fourth goal when Tankulic's shot prompted a collision between O'Brien and Twardzik, and before they could do anything it was 4-1 to the hosts.
It was a case of keeping the score down from then on for Motherwell, who face a big fight to steer clear of the drop zone on the evidence of this display on Tayside.
Source: PA
